Modest Fashion, Behind the Unemployment Figures, the Art of Listening
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2020
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Office for National Statistics release new unemployment figures today. We look behind the numbers and ask what sorts of jobs women are losing and what’s being done to save them. What do we know about the jobs that women are employed in? And have efforts to help women get into better paid sectors changed the gender pay gap?
Do you know what “modest fashion” is? It’s about wearing less revealing clothes, and if you’ve a religious faith which emphasises modesty, it’s a style which allows you to do just that and look great. Well-known high-street shops and on-line brands (like M&S and ASOS) sell clothes under this banner, appealing to a more diverse range of customers. But is it really just a new way of describing how many of us prefer to dress, especially as we get older? Reina Lewis from London College of Fashion together with Amina Begum Ali who’s a model, discuss how it fits into the UK’s £32 billion fashion industry.
When you look back over your relationships do you see patterns? Our reporter Milly Chowles does and she wants to understand why this might be. In a new series about toxic relationships she talks to four women who have broken free. Today, a woman we are calling Nina who was drawn to bad boys.
Writer Kate Murphy claims that as a society we’ve forgotten how to listen. She joins Jane to talk about what stops us & to argue the case for better listening.
Presenter: Jane Garvey Interviewed guest: Vicky Pryce Interviewed guest: Amina Begum Ali Interviewed guest: Reina Lewis Interviewed guest: Kate Murphy Reporter: Milly Chowles Producer: Lucinda Montefiore
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.3 | This is the Woman's Hour podcast. Good morning, welcome to Woman's Hour on the program today. |
| 0:10.4 | How to listen. Do you regard yourself as a good listener? More tips on how to get it right |
| 0:16.8 | in the listening department on Woman's Hour this morning? Most of us, it's fair to say, |
| 0:22.0 | have a so-called type. But are you one of those people consistently attracted to the wrong |
| 0:28.4 | type? We start a new series on relationships on the program today, and modest fashion |
| 0:34.0 | is having a moment. But what does modest fashion mean? |
| 0:38.4 | Now the new unemployment figures are out today, and the government has recently made much |
| 0:43.0 | of the fact that more women are in work than at any time before. Indeed, we know that |
| 0:47.2 | the latest figures reveal that 72.3% of women are in employment. But we also know that female |
| 0:54.8 | employment is often insecure and poorly paid. And we've talked a great deal about the |
| 0:59.8 | crisis on Britain's high street recently. So what sort of jobs are women doing? What sort |
| 1:05.2 | of jobs are they losing? And what is being done to help save them? Let's talk to Vicki |
| 1:10.8 | Price, economist and author of a new book called Women vs Capitalism. Good to see Vicki. |
| 1:15.9 | Good morning. And we have Kate Bell as well, TUC's Head of Economics. Kate, good morning |
| 1:20.2 | to you. Good morning. |
| 1:21.7 | First of all, Kate, do you take joy in the fact that female employment rates, the rates, |
| 1:27.4 | are so high, isn't that something to celebrate? |
| 1:29.8 | It absolutely is. It's really good news. But what we're finding is that those high employment |
| 1:34.1 | rates aren't solving some of the kind of structural problems in the labour market. So whether |
| 1:38.6 | it's low pay for everybody, or it's the fact that that persistent gender pay gap at the |
| 1:43.2 | moment not set to close until 2058 isn't going away. So of course these figures are good |
... |
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